Ericsson’s CEO: Europe has played “catch-up” for long enough

Europe must come to view 5G and digitalization as a critical part of national infrastructures, writes Börje Ekholm, president and CEO of Ericsson, or risk remaining in “catch-up mode” compared to the U.S. and China. In a blog posting, Ekholm argues that 5G spectrum availability must be addressed immediately. It is also important to extend the lifetime of spectrum licenses to enhance investment certainty among operators. In addition, Europe has more than 200 operators – a fact that limits the reach of network deployments.

“Applications built on mobile technology can go global very quickly. With the digital innovation capabilities of 4G, it’s no surprise that some companies capitalized on this opportunity and became really big, companies like Alibaba, Tencent, Facebook, Netflix etc.”

“Having lacked that same digital infrastructure, it is equally no surprise that Europe has a much more limited role on the world tech stage. It would be similar to expecting companies in a country without roads to build the best cars.”

https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2019/5/europe-and-5g-address-the-reality-not-the-myths